New ‘Mulan’ Marches to Beat of a Different Drummer

While touring China on a jaunt for the country’s Ministry of Culture, director William Meade knew he wanted to work with the Red Poppy Ladies, China’s first female-only percussion group.

“The quality of the girls is just phenomenal,” he said. “They have to practice for two years to even get into the company, and they do between 150 or 200 shows in China or Asia every year. They’ve been around for many years, and they have a wonderfully established reputation worldwide.”

So he invited them to New York to stage an unorthodox version of “Mulan,” which incorporates their high-tempo percussion with the generations-old story. The troupe arrived Sunday, and after two days of furious preparation, the show premiered Wednesday evening in New York.

Meade chatted with Speakeasy about his new show, which plays 32 shows through January at the Peter Sharpe Theatre on W. 42nd St.

Describe the format of the show.

It is a narrative show in the sense of that you’re going on the journey of “Mulan.” Basically, the story of Mulan, is that in ancient China, there was a war and every family had to send one male to war. So in this family, there were just daughters, and the father was very, very sick. If he didn’t go to war, they were going to throw him in jail. So she decided to pretend she was a male, go to the war and fight in her father’s place. And as a result, she became a leader and world famous and was revered all around the world. Then, it was exposed she was actually a woman and that is what surprised everyone.

The pieces you played in the preview were fierce, loud and very dynamic. Are all the pieces that way, or is there a broader mix of slower and quieter pieces?

It’s a huge mix. It is percussion music, so we’re not out to give everybody a headache. It’s very user-friendly. These, they wanted to show you energy, but there are some solos and very quiet pieces.

There are so many shows in New York. Articulate what viewers will get here they couldn’t get elsewhere.

You’re never going to see anything like this. This is one of most unusual shows not only because you’re getting a world-class musicians and world-class drummers. It’s a huge risk on their part, they’re trying to bring something fresh and new to a well-known story.

Are you worried about any language barriers between the performers, who only speak Chinese, and a New York audience?

The whole thing was constructed so there would be some narration that would take people through the story, as well as illuminate it. So it’s a non-language specific show, with the narration in English.

What are the challenges to bringing a group like this to New York from China?

Because the group is an established touring group in China, they’re used to traveling all the time. So a lot of the logistics in terms of them touring have already been worked out through very well-established channels. But really the big question is taking a traditional story like “Mulan,” which has been around for over 1,600 years, and turning it into a theatrical piece, and then turning it into a theatrical piece as viewed through percussion and through music. It’s kind of like “Stomp,” in the sense that they take percussion out of the normal realm and create something special. But this is unusual because we’re trying to create a narrative story around a percussion group.

From what I heard from the artistic director, this is pretty rare for them to perform 32 shows in a row like this.

The longest running show in China as a musical is “Phantom of the Opera,” that ran for 100 performances in Shanghai, and that’s it. There is a huge touring market in China where they go from night-to-night. They usually do a lot of rapid stuff and change the pieces pretty often. Very rarely do they take the time to develop one particular piece. It’s a very different structure how they work over there.

How do you think that changes the dynamic of their performances here?

The interaction of the audience is the first thing that happens. Night after night, you figure out what works and what doesn’t work. If you keep changing it, you never know. You’re flying blind. And so what over the course of the run here, the show is going to change here, and we’re going to adapt it, and be working on it the whole time it’s here. We want to make it a collaborative effort.

About Speakeasy

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